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Recruiting Posters, Slogans and Commercials [Merged]

Meaford!  :o

Send 'em off with a KFS and a month's worth of pure IMPs (discarding the lasagnas and stroganoff, pure suspicious ham-like meals  :-X) ...Now that is real survivor-great entertainment I'd say.
 
48Highlander said:
That and stop putting out recruiting campaigns geared specificaly towards women which make the military seem like one big tea-party.  If we tell people that it's all fun and games, can you really blame them for quitting when they find out what a bag-drive it can be?

Good point - that is one thing that I really think is both superficial and a waste of money.

First, lets see how our Allies are recruiting.  What are they showcasing?  What do they try to "sell" when you walk through their electronic door?  Go to the British Army Recruiting Page - What's it say?

http://www.army.mod.uk/careers/

"Army Jobs: Not your Basic Training" with "Combat" as the first search page.

Royal Marines?

http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/2650.html

"Seaborne Assault. The Very Essence of the Royal Marines" with the motto "How Bad do you Want This?  99.99% Need Not Apply."

The Australian Army?

http://www.defencejobs.gov.au/default.asp?p=60

"Courage, Initiative, Teamwork" with the motto "The Army. The Edge."

The American Army?

http://www.goarmy.com/flindex.jsp

"An Army of One" (OK, that one sucks) with an "Operation Night Strike" Interactive Feature.

The United States Marine Corps?

http://www.marines.com/

The traditional motto of "The Marines: The Few, The Proud" with three menus: "Those who are Warriors, Those who are Driven, and Those who Belong."

Now, go to the CFRC Recruiting Page right now.  Here, I will help you:

http://www.recruiting.forces.gc.ca/engraph/home/index_e.aspx?bhcp=1

The first thing that pops up is "Women in the Canadian Forces - Click Here".  It is followed by "Canadian Forces Aboriginal Entry Program" and "Pay Increase!".  I look at this and I say is

What the Fuck?!?

Not only do we not give any pictures, mottos, or anything that emphasises Duty, Pride in Service, Dedication, Challenge, or Preparing to Defend the Nation - all those values that the Military has traditionally relied upon to draw recruits - but also, we seem to be willing to pander towards interests groups based around minorities and women and bragging about a few more bucks for work.

I guess this is an open challenge to whoever is driving the CFRC recruiting, as we don't seem to be focusing on young, aggressive Canadians (regardless of background) who seek challenge, adventure and commitment.
 
Great post Infanteer, i think you hit the nail right on the head regarding Canadian Forces recruiting compared to our allies.

Rather embarassing of us...
 
""""Not only do we not give any pictures, mottos, or anything that emphasises Duty, Pride in Service, Dedication, Challenge, or Preparing to Defend the Nation - all those values that the Military has traditionally relied upon to draw recruits.  Rather, we pander to minority groups and women and bragging about a few more bucks for work.

I guess this is an open challenge to whoever is driving the CFRC recruiting, as we don't seem to be focusing on  young, aggressive Canadians who seek challenge, adventure and commitment."""""


ever heard of "Striving for Peace While preparing for war?" 

I have to disagree with the fact of trying to SELL the army to people.  I take pride in knowing that the people in our forces wernt susepted to lame commericals fabricated by the professionals - whos job is to trick the HUMAN MIND.  Its a wonder however how jobs in the forestry serive attract a lot more youth than the military seem to(NO ADVERTISING WHATSOEVER). 

I think a lot of canadian youth find challenge, adventure and commitment in other places.  Canadian Industry such as Oil, logging, etc attrack a herd of kids too.  Not to mention the big bucks.


Perhaps our youth are in a sense smarter, they see past the gimicks of the Army.  I too am younger (not too young) and whenever i see an advertisment for any army i think...geeze, that was friggin cheezy.


BOOYAH! :-*


 
dirky said:
I have to disagree with the fact of trying to SELL the army to people.   I take pride in knowing that the people in our forces wernt susepted to lame commericals fabricated by the professionals - whos job is to trick the HUMAN MIND.   Its a wonder however how jobs in the forestry serive attract a lot more youth than the military seem to(NO ADVERTISING WHATSOEVER).  


    Hey, no advertisements would be fine too.  The problem I have with the recruiting campaigns though is that not only are we trying to sell ourselves (no jokes please), but we're misepresenting what we do, and aiming at every demographic except white males.  It's pathetic.  As someone pointed out, false adverising is a fact of the business world, however most companies use false advertising IN THEIR FAVOUR.  What are we using it for?  To attract the demographic which is most likely to quite and leave us holding the bill.  Someone in the puzzle palace must have been really hung-over when they came up with that plan.

    Someone earlier pointed out that males are subject to the same sort of soft touchy-feely warm-and-fuzzy campaigns, but they don't quit as often.  Well, a lot of males join the army because they WANT to belong to some sort of macho organization.  To do the impossible and achieve the unachieavable three times before breakfast and again before lunch.  The ones who join expecting a fun summer-camp-style atmosphere usualy do end up quiting; the ones who knew what they were in for don't.  Same goes for females, except from my experience anyway a much higher percentage of females seems to be totaly unprepared for the reality of military life.  Probably because they're much less likely to be looking for a macho career - which is the same reason so few of them join to begin with.  I get the feeling that most females think we're a bunch of musclebound oversexed meatheads, and want nothing to do with the army;  then they see our kind and gentle recruiting videos and think "hey, maybe it's different than I thought".  Whereas guys just see guns and think "ALLRIGHT, I get to shoot shit!". 

    Infanteer, I loved your post :)  It's definitely going in my scrap-book.
 
Good to see others have alarm bells going off as well.

dirky said:
I have to disagree with the fact of trying to SELL the army to people.   I take pride in knowing that the people in our forces wernt susepted to lame commericals fabricated by the professionals - whos job is to trick the HUMAN MIND.   Its a wonder however how jobs in the forestry serive attract a lot more youth than the military seem to(NO ADVERTISING WHATSOEVER).  

Well Dirky, bottom line is, the military has to sell itself to people.   When the civilian market offers people jobs that pay better, give you regular hours, and let you go home to your family, you have to give people some reason to pursue a career that doesn't live up to these "normal" things.   I think "Pay Raise!" is a stupid way to advertise - ask any Professional if they "did it for the money" and I guarantee you most will say no.   Of course pay is important - all soldiers should be able to live comfortably - but the Military can't and shouldn't be trying to recruit people on the basis of salaries.

As well, I don't want to appear like I'm ranting against Natives or Women in the CF by pointing out our ad focus towards them.   I really could care less who was in the uniform.   I just feel that by aiming our recruiting towards a specific group or target, your creating a recruiting atmosphere that gives the message of "You <insert minority group here>, the CF has a special place for you and we'll go out of our way to accommodate you!   Join now!".   I'm all for recruiting Canadians of any stripe - but lets recruit them for the right reasons.

What are the right reasons?   As I've alluded to before Challenge, Commitment, Duty, Honour, and joining a very unique Team.   The fact that a soldier will do things that most civilians can't or won't do.   We must form our recruiting "pitch" around this notion - as the webpages of our Allies clearly display, soldiering is built around combat.   Recruiting can't shy away from the fact that, when everything else is stripped away, the ultimate fact of soldiering is being called upon to commit violence on behalf of the Nation.

Face it, most kids these days are going to find Information on the Forces through Surfing on over to the Internet.   Go to the other sites of listed, and one gets a "feel" - right from the very start - that those Forces see preparing and fighting as their bottom line.   When I click the CF link, the impression I get is "Another organization pushing some sort of socialization agenda".   The website isn't the only culprit - the infamous adds of CF members of all stripes with no weapons seem to come to mind.   We must find the "recruiting focus" - need a start?   Click the other Military pages I linked to.

On a final note, I think that these types of programs create a "poisoned atmosphere" for women/natives/minorities that they themselves may not appreciate (if they are capable professionals, then they shouldn't).   All their fellow troops will tend to hold the attitude that any achievement by the soldier, even if he earned it on pure merit, was based on their "targeted" minority status.   Don't believe me?   I've seen this before personally, and so have others - as A Majoor pointed out some time ago:

a_majoor said:
True story:

In 1994, I was an instructor at the RCR Battleschool in Pet, teaching a QL-3 Infantry course. There I had the pleasure of instructing the best candidate I have ever had (and I have instructed on Basic, Junior Leadership, Basic Officer Training Course and RESO over the years). This guy was smart, in both the "book" and "street" sense, was a superb athlete, had natural charisma (the section would follow his lead off duty), and was photogenic to boot. In military slang, this guy was a "streamer", and I could see him moving quickly up the ranks, or taking a commission.

Unfortunately, at the end of the course, the first ever "self identification" survey came out and the troops were required to fill them out. My candidate was extremely upset, and justifiably so; for no matter how good he was, or how much ability or merit he displayed, for the rest of his career, his accomplishments would be discounted as being due to his ethnic background: he was a Cree from Saskatchewan.

I hope others feel this way as well.
 
Infanteer,
spot on! Throw in more profanity and vulgarity, and you have one of my usual morning rants! For anybody involved in thses stupid recruiting adds, HERE is an example of why we serve. This is an article from a recent Marine Corps Times. The author is, obviously, a Marine, but his message is inter-service and international:

As I worked my way through the final weeks of preparation for my deployment to Iraq, I noted the same strange occurrence that always seems to happen right before I leave: weird questions from friends and family. Even stranger were the blank looks I would get after answering. These are people I love and respect, and many have known me all my life. I know they are concerned for my welfare. However, the majority of the questions left me baffled.

The most common question I was asked when they found out I was deploying was: â Å“Did you volunteer for this?â ?

I always gave the same answer: â Å“Yes, I did, when I signed up 23 years ago.â ? They gave me blank looks.

I tried to explain that this is what I do, and when I took the oath, I volunteered for anything and everything that comes up.

In fact, I did want to go on this deployment. Why? Because I don't want to miss anything. Like all Marines, I want to be where the action is. This seems hard for civilians to understand. Even my poor worrywart of a mother, who has seen me deploy several times over the years, always asks me that question and never seems satisfied with the answer. But she's my mother and, like all mothers, she has the right to worry as much as she wants.

The questions didn't come only from people who lead relatively safe, routine lifestyles, either.

I have a good friend who is a police officer and a member of his city's SWAT team. He routinely kicks in the doors of drug dealers, handles hostage situations and has lived through a few â Å“OK Corralâ ?-type shootouts. So I was astonished when he asked me a few weeks before I left: â Å“Can't you get out of this deployment? Don't you think Iraq is a dangerous place?â ?

It was my turn for the blank look.

I would guess that just about every Marine gets these questions before deploying, and I'll bet they are as perplexed as I am.

We Marines don't think the same way civilians do about the Iraq situation. I'm not saying we are smarter or better than anybody else. Just different.

But what makes us think so differently? I've been a recruiter, and I know that the young men and women who join the Corps come in all shapes and sizes, and from almost every possible ethnic, religious and economic background. Many are tough, street-smart kids, while just as many grew up spoiled. They are as diverse a group as you'll find.

But look closely, and you'll see that what all these people have in common is the way they think. It's not something taught by parents or at school. It's based on what they consider important, and maybe most of all on what they're searching for.

Because of the way they think, the vast majority of Marines are somewhat restless. It seems they are always looking for something to do or to get into.

What they're looking for (whether they know it or not) is the right state of being, a place where they fit in â ” where they can find people who are looking for the same thing. Many of these people will find a lifelong home in the Marine Corps. I did.

The attitude that binds us together is based on the core belief that life is meant to be lived â ” and not from a couch or behind a computer screen â ” and that you aren't living unless you are constantly being challenged.

When you search for real challenges, you put yourself in harm's way. In the end, it's worth the risk.

It's also a Corps cornerstone belief that sacrifice and loyalty to each other is essential, and that giving of yourself, but not just for yourself, is worthwhile.

People who think this way do it naturally. Our training fosters it, but either you get it or you don't.

Marines do, and that's the reason we will never understand questions from those who don't.

I hope I never do.

By Paul J. Roarke Jr.
The writer, a master gunnery sergeant, is the ordnance chief for the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq.
 
So 10 or 12 of our heftier members get dropped off at Odark30 with a months worth of IMPs.

I like it, we wouldn't want to miss out watching the challenges but what about the rewards?

Being voted out of Meaford?

How long before they turn to cannibalism, sorry you can't eat me, I've got a chit.
 
I'm going to go on a limb here and say (Has anyone noticed how little I have to do today, this is what my 4th post today and it's only noon?)
and say that I am in the demographic that the forces should be recruiting.

18-22 year old, highschool/college graduate.
Heavily involved in athletics/extras
Looking for a challenge after years of classroom.
Young, Unattached (not married anyway) healthy etc.
In need of a job/career, skills etc. not related to school.
And of course, interested in A military career.

So I'm going to make a massive...perhaps stupid generalisation, and say that I represent in many ways what recruiting should be going for. (oh that does sound arrogant doesn't it?)

And when I compare every site, nothing on the CF with the exception of perhaps "what skills/trades I might get out of it." catches my eye.

Firstly, they need to sex it up a bit..not pornography but for chrissakes there's no "interactivity" (think "raid" or "commando adventure" type of games...just silly internet stuff but as Infanteer pointed out, this is the best recruiting tool we have, so even if it's a Seemingly silly Java game, get them thinking about the "meat" of what the military is.
It's all very bland and institutional (sounds like highschool/university where I've spend the last 14-18 years)

And of course to reiterate and support (perhaps redundantly) what Infanteer said
It says nothing about, Honour, Strength, Pride, Commitment, ..War (oh bad word)..fine "Combat"
Or at least it doesn't mention it enough, That should be the focus.
The CF should be only partially a "Job Opportunity" looking at the website it's a wonder that we get anyone who wants to join for any other reason besides getting a job.

I remember doing PT once with a group, a MCPL was running with us (this was out of uniform and off duty) and to encourage he said "You've already done more then 99% of the population can do, why don't you just run up that fucking hill?"
Now...why don't they put something like that on the website.
Like I said, sex it up.
Don't even need a catchy phrase (though it couldn't hurt) they might do good to shorten the URL to "FORCESRECRUITING.ca" but like I said, Jobs are such a small part of the forces, appeal to the adventurous (stupidly romantic like myself even) hard working people.

Sorry if that was redundant, but CF recruiting is a sore point I'm normally far too silent on and I wonder how many people like me, who have other options, they've lost because of the current style.
 
Che said:
So I'm going to make a massive...perhaps stupid generalisation, and say that I represent in many ways what recruiting should be going for. (oh that does sound arrogant doesn't it?)

Of course, you realize that as soon as the CF figured out your religious background they would be falling over themselves to have you fill out "Self-Identification" forms. ::)

You're on the mark, Che.  Young, fit, and reasonably intelligent Canadians is what we should be targeting.  How to do it?  Show these young, fit soldiers doing tasks that show how demanding and unique the mission we do it.  Not waving like a retard, not looking stressed out while doing some mundane task, not sitting in a big, colourful, multicultural group - no, we need to show soldiers, with (gasp) weapons, performing the job of a soldier.  And no, don't grab an Asian Female and take her aside to do this - just go out and take pictures of regular units on ex and ops.  Is there going to be alot of white dudes in your pictures?  So what....

 
You would think that with the explosive growth in extreme sports that the tall forheads in Ottawa would wake up to the fact that the youth of today are looking for something to satisfy their need to be on the edge of things. One of the reasons that we are going to have a very difficult time recruiting the 5,000 extra people is that the general public have been raised on the Peacekeeper diet. Therefore they think that our armed forces do nothing except be socialized daycare workers.
I agree with many of the above posts that our recruiting system sells the bland and safe and don't sell the sizzle. Therefore we attract the bland.
Anyway I am rambling and must get back to PER writing.  :salute:
 
Such challenges could include:

1)  A 10km race ran through tank rut central of the base (anywhere that is the field) at night.

2)  An Elimination challenge, everyone walks on the grass, last one to get caught and jacked by the DSM wins.




 
I think I said it about 4 times, but I think the shortest and simplest answer (which FTSO touched on with "The sizzle") is we have to "sex up" the recruiting a bit...not actual sex of course, not explicit photos, just that sizzle, that air of danger perhaps.
 
The whole idea of getting a trade helps sell the military pretty well, from my stand point. The mental challenge and the financial stability make the CF look like an excellent work environment especially compared to: the call center, office, restaurant, or shopping center.
 
I think that a large portion of this problem is that the forces are not looked upon the same way here in Canada as they are elsewhere. I.E. in the U.S. being a marine or a ranger carries with it a sense of pride and tradition. In canada, if you were to to tell people that you were a "Cowboy" from the PPCLI, they'd get googly eyes, like WTF are you gagging about? The greatest commercial ever made for the Canadian forces was the Juno Beach ad by, get this......TIM HORTONS. That should tell us something, people don't know about Kapyong, Juno Beach, Ypres, Beaumont Hamel, Vimy Ridge. We need to mould our forces around heroism, pride, integrity and GUTS. Like the Royal Marines recruiting slogan says....99.99% Need Not Apply
 
I think the best way to recurit kids would be to show up at their school with helicopters or Tanks.  Maybe show up in a PE class and start yelling and forcing pushups.  Perhaps shooting weapons at school property would be cool (stuff kids hate).  Maybe set up some sort of terrorist thingy where everyone in the school things theyre gonna get gasses by terrorists, then the canadian army rappels doen from Griffins, shooting in the school with blanks, and pretend killing these terrorists.  then kids woudl be like COOL, i though i twas goning chu Die!
 
The first ain't that bad. (The showing up with choppers and APCs)

The rest are some of the most irresponsible, stupid, and in some cases illegal ideas I've ever heard regarding recruiting.
 
The "Breakthrough" (the second half of it), "Priceless", and "Artillery" videos that were made for exercise Stalwart Guardian are the style of advertising that I think would really appeal to younger people, especially those who may be interested in combat arms positions. They looked pretty appealing to me.

The videos are available here: http://www.army.dnd.ca/LFCA/EXStalwartGuardian/english/Video.asp

Although, I could see it creating a potential problem with people leaving after they join and realize that they're not always doing the 'cool stuff'.
 
 

Perhaps our youth are in a sense smarter, they see past the gimicks of the Army.  I too am younger (not too young) and whenever i see an advertisment for any army i think...geeze, that was friggin cheezy.

Well I guess those cheesy commercials do their job when it comes to weeding out certian types of people eh ;)

 
dirky said:
I think the best way to recurit kids would be to show up at their school with helicopters or Tanks.  Maybe show up in a PE class and start yelling and forcing pushups.  Perhaps shooting weapons at school property would be cool (stuff kids hate).  Maybe set up some sort of terrorist thingy where everyone in the school things theyre gonna get gasses by terrorists, then the canadian army rappels doen from Griffins, shooting in the school with blanks, and pretend killing these terrorists.  then kids woudl be like COOL, i though i twas goning chu Die!
There's probably enough guns in the schools as it is.  Enemy force would probably get a real hole or 2 in them.
 
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